IGTV for influencers

A year ago, Instagram created waves by announcing launching IGTV. For the first time, Instagram offered the unique opportunity to influencers to connect with their community with long-standing pieces of content without leaving the Instagram app.

Initially, the response from the community was satisfactory. Leading brands used it to create awareness about their products. However, low views coupled with the difficulty of creating vertical videos compelled many active users of IGTV to say goodbye to the new product.

It remains to be seen if IGTV stands a chance to win back the support and attention of social media influencers. Some elements af answer in this article.

What is an IGTV channel?

IGTV is a standalone app integrated into the classic Instagram allowing content creators to distribute vertical videos. Unlike Instagram, IGTV allows for creating longer standalone vertical videos. Iit has the possibility for regular accounts to make videos of up to 10 minutes duration while verified accounts can make a 60-minute long video.

As demand for IGTV began to shrink, Instagram introduced a new feature allowing content creators to share previews of 60-seconds in their Instagram feeds, as well as in their stories.

How does it work?

Android and iOS users can easily download IGTV application and get access to the videos. An exciting feature of IGTV is that users can create their own channel. This can be done either via Instagram app or through Instagram’s own website. A single Instagram account can create only one channel. 

Technicalities of the videos You can download on IGTV

The duration of the videos that can be uploaded vary. For instance, for regular accounts, the duration of the uploaded video ranges between 15 seconds to 10 minutes. Similarly, the audited accounts and major accounts can upload videos of up to 60 minutes long duration.

The format of all uploaded videos must be MP4. The optimal aspect ratio in IGTV fluctuates between a minimum of 4:5 and a maximum of 9:16.

People are allowed to download a maximum file size of 650 MB for videos of up to 10 minutes. In the same way, for videos of up to 60 minutes long duration, one can download and maintain a maximum file size of 5.4 GB.

Points to remember when shooting videos for IGTV

People either have to use their cell phone’s camera or a DSLR to record videos. This is because IGTV does not allow to record videos directly from the app. Moreover, recording from your DSLR also ensures a high-quality video.

Following important points that should be kept in mind:

• The video should always be captured in portrait mode
• It is necessary to that the subject does not leave the frame. In this way, it leaves enough room to zoom in and crop the video
• IGTV videos are seen on the mobile phones. Hence, try your best to record videos in a manner that there are little or no distortions in the background
•  Keep the videos simple with sufficient lighting

Points to remember when posting videos for IGTV

• Make sure to optimize the videos for silent viewing
• The most important information should be included upfront
• Hashtags drive traffic to your channel. Use the most persistent hashtags in your description
• Only content that justify a longer format should be posted
• Share a preview of your video in your feed and/or story

How can influencers, bloggers and content creators use IGTV?

Audiences are more and more inclined towards watching long-form content than short-form content. Moreover amateur content is taking the edge on professionally-produced content.

In this regard, IGTV can prove to be among the top and best social media platforms, differentiating itself from Youtube and its more sophisticated videos.

IGTV gives content creators a chance to share longer pieces of amateur content with their audience that require lesser effort and fewer resources. Possibilities are many, for example:

• Podcasts
• Tutorials & How-to’s
• Product Hauls
• Vlogs